The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventor, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure. Unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims in the present disclosure and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Mobile network operators have to deal with increasing flexibility of data services delivery on different devices. For example, data can now be delivered to an individual on a smartphone, laptop, tablet, television, or some other device. The data services could be hosted by the mobile network operators in the mobile network operators' data centers within the third generation partnership project (“3GPP”) domain. Alternatively, the data services could be hosted by third party data application providers outside of the mobile network operator domain.
When the data services are hosted by third party data application providers outside of the mobile network operator domain, individual mobile network operators are required to negotiate agreements with the data service providers. The result of these individual negotiations is the creation of proprietary functionalities in third generation partnership project 3GPP networks, resulting in non-standard 3GPP interfaces. These proprietary functionalities can make it difficult for a mobile network operator to interact with multiple data service providers in an efficient manner. These difficulties are enhanced when the data service provider provides data in a (non-IMS) format.
The advent of new models of services delivery such as Cloud Computing or Applications Stores enhances the difficulties posed by multiple proprietary functionalities, because an increased number of users are attempting to access the data. The proprietary functionalities require additional programming, and can create difficulties with regard to network enhancement or backend network integration, and also restrict the mobile operator's freedom to negotiate charging models with subscribers.